Articles March-April

It's been a little while, so I'm going to share some articles again! I read a lot more over the course of a month, but this is what I remembered to save. Enjoy!

Religious/Spiritual

Burning Bush -- Margaret Blair Young talks about the death of her father and the death of my grandfather, as well as a poem he wrote. It was neat to have someone I respect write about someone I love.

Relief Society vs. Fix It Society -- I need to read and reread this. There have been so many times I have wanted to change people to be more like me or make decisions more like mine, but that's not my job. My job is to share God's love with them.

Normons Facebook post -- Normons is a blog that began to prove how normal Mormons are, but they have a lot of good stuff besides. This was a Facebook post that asked how to do more in the community when you already give so much to the church. Lots of interesting discussion in the comments.

How to pray in a way God can answer -- The blog at lds.org (I just do blog.lds.org to get there) has had a lot of nice stuff since its inception a few months ago. This article came out just as I was thinking about ways to expect less from God (not because He can't do everything, just because I wanted to work on a different sort of prayer relationship), and this had lots of good ideas.

Adjusting to Mission Life -- this is a good booklet to prepare not only missionaries but anyone who might deal with stress ever.

Avoiding Mormon Burnout by Saying No -- Good old Julie de Azevedo Hanks. It was nice to have this in my recent memory when I said no a few times. Well, I didn't quite say no, but I set forth pretty clear conditions in order for me to say yes instead of throwing my plans off just to be nice. And then I didn't resent anyone! And I was able to do the service I wanted to! (I'm not sure how this meshes with my New Year's Resolution, but I'll figure it out.)

Lifting Hands International -- If you are looking for a way to help refugees, this one is good. As impersonal as it sounds, money is probably the best thing to donate, but if you use the Amazon wish list at least you're giving useful stuff.

Political/Social

What Comes Next? -- I think this country is about to get a megalomaniac for president, and King George III has a few questions I think are worth asking anyone too eager to lead.

The One Kind of Diversity Colleges Avoid -- This article discusses how few professors are politically right of center. I think this quote from Daniel Peterson (see here and here) sums up how I feel about it:

"If a substantial number of sane and intelligent people believe something that seems to you utterly without sense, the problem probably lies with you, for not grasping what it is about that belief that a lucid and reasonable person might find plausible and satisfying.

Until you understand why people of good sense, learning, mental health, and sound intelligence find a particular worldview convincing and worthy of allegiance … you haven’t really understood it. You don’t have to accept that other worldview, but, if you’re serious about understanding it, you really have to grasp it."

There are a lot of sane and intelligent people who are conservative, and I think it is to a college's detriment to silence them, just as it is to silence liberals and moderates.

(I guess this quote also applies to the current Republican front runner and his voting base. Sigh.)

Honor Code as a Weapon -- I am really grateful that BYU has an Honor Code. I think it has helped attract students that are moral and sober.
I do think there are some problems with its implementation in its present form, and this article highlighted some examples where it was used inappropriately.

Even in cases where someone broke the Honor Code, I worry about it being used so punitively. To quote a former student ward bishop, nothing should stand between someone and the repentance process, and the Honor Code Office is doing that in some cases. I don't know if there's a perfect solution (amnesty is the least worst, but there are still potential repercussions worth noting), but I do think someone brave enough to go to a bishop should be granted some leniency (and it sounds like that's not the default).

Parenting

No Spanking, No Time-Out, No Problems -- There is a lot of great advice in here. Even Joseph's grumpier days have been better when I've used techniques in here.

Save a Choking Baby -- Since Matthew crawls and puts everything in his mouth, it's been good to review this. (Thankfully I haven't had to try it out yet.) This just uses toys so it's not scary to watch.

and while we're at it:

Some first finger foods are choking hazards -- this is one reason why the transition to solid food is so slow for our kids. It's just hard to learn how to gum things!

How to buckle a 5-point harness -- Always good reminders. (And it made me self-conscious so I checked pictures to see how I had been doing. The times when I saw noticeably loose straps were times when we had used the car seat in the stroller, not the car, so that was a relief. But still room for improvement.)

Literature

Middlemarch and Me -- I finished Middlemarch before Endapril, and it was wonderful. When I get my thoughts all figured out I'll share them. In the meantime, here's a fun article about it.

Fiction Improves Empathy -- When I took a "Do you live in a bubble" test I got an embarrassingly low score. But the hope I cling to for myself is that I like to read, so maybe I can be empathetic even if I have a ridiculously easy life. (I'm hoping Middlemarch added like 10% to my empathy levels.)

Beverly Cleary Turns 100 -- I remember realizing sometime in the last decade how old Beverly Cleary actually was. Then I felt a surge of joy when I realized she would probably make it to 100. And here she is! I love her and her books so much.

Science/Technology

Speaking of 100th birthdays, Claude Shannon's was April 30th! He's the most important person you've never heard about, so now you can learn about him.

Shannon's centennial -- Celebrants recall U of M grad's advances

Claude Shannon -- Reluctant Father of the Digital Age

The Shannon -- for if you prefer videos instead of articles.

Zika, the movie -- I guess this would go more under health than science. Or more under the category of cry and cry and cry. So many brave women.

Really important stuff

Man Brings Lunch from Home To Cut Down On Small Joys -- This sums up my entire life except the one year where I could eat at the Cannon Center for lunch.